The federal government has introduced new rules that will force tobacco companies to include larger and more graphic anti-smoking warning labels on cigarette packages.

Once the rules are enacted, the new anti-smoking ads will cover 75 per cent of the package, instead of the current required 50 per cent, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Thursday.

One of the new labels features a deathbed photograph of former Canadian model Barb Tarbox, who became an anti-smoking activist before her death from lung cancer in 2003 at age 42.

The labels will also display a phone number for a quit-smoking hotline, while a social media campaign will be launched targeting smokers aged 20-24, the minister told reporters in Ottawa.

"We know that having the warnings is still the most effective method to warn smokers of the health risks of smoking," Aglukkaq said.

Despite the minister's announcement on Thursday, it could still be some time before Canadians actually start seeing the labels on cigarette packs.

Aglukkaq said she hopes to introduce the legislation "as soon as possible" in the new year.

But once the rules are passed, Health Canada must notify the tobacco companies and give them a transition period before the label rules come into effect, an official in Aglukkaq's department said.

In a statement on Thursday, Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. said it "lamented" Aglukkaq's decision to impose new regulations on the legal tobacco industry and accused the minister of abandoning her commitment to tackle Canada's contraband tobacco problem.

i don't think you can isolate them in that kind of way. the overall anti-smoking campaign, including education, awareness, propaganda, etc seems to be working. i don't have handy stats, but i expect that overall smoking numbers in canada are declining these days. i am assuming that this isn't merely coincidental. and images like these, whether or not they stop you from buying the next pack, are contributing to the paradigm of tobacco. they are not going to eradicate smoking, nor should they, but i am fairly convinced that these ads make it hard to ignore the possible outcomes of smoking.

GrannyFro

12-31-2010 02:22 PM

its either smoke or become fat

or eat vegetables and workout but who wants to do that shit

jeffb

12-31-2010 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrannyFro
(Post 486329)

its either smoke or become fat

or eat vegetables and workout but who wants to do that shit

Oddly, i don't smoke, am not fat, and while i eat vegetables i'm far from a vegetarian. I have a gym and a pool in my condo building and i barely use them. And i don't drink all that much either.

GrannyFro

12-31-2010 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffb
(Post 486331)

Oddly, i don't smoke, am not fat, and while i eat vegetables i'm far from a vegetarian. I have a gym and a pool in my condo building and i barely use them. And i don't drink all that much either.

yeah sure fatty, ab photos with jeffB written across your chest or i dont believe you

jeffb

12-31-2010 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrannyFro
(Post 486343)

yeah sure fatty, ab photos with jeffB written across your chest or i dont believe you

Ab photos? Hahhhh, i wish. But i'm no fatty, average weight for my height. I'm guessing that'll change as i get older though. lol

Yuksek

12-31-2010 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'trane
(Post 486319)

i don't think you can isolate them in that kind of way. the overall anti-smoking campaign, including education, awareness, propaganda, etc seems to be working. i don't have handy stats, but i expect that overall smoking numbers in canada are declining these days. i am assuming that this isn't merely coincidental. and images like these, whether or not they stop you from buying the next pack, are contributing to the paradigm of tobacco. they are not going to eradicate smoking, nor should they, but i am fairly convinced that these ads make it hard to ignore the possible outcomes of smoking.

I think another huge factor is that it's almost impossible to smoke in a social setting anymore.

Shadowfax

12-31-2010 03:07 PM

the more graphic the better...maybe it will help more people think twice

i quit cold turkey about 15 years ago..why?...because in a short span of about 2 weeks i watched an ex-girlfriend's father and my grandmother die from lung cancer (grandmother from second hand smoke)
trust me when i say it is an EXTREMELY ugly death...i volunteered to sit at both bedsides for the last 2 days because nobody else had the stomach for it...it was really upsetting at the time but in retrospect i'm really thankful that i did...because it was a huge eye opener for me

if you're a smoker....quit...PERIOD

it's amazing how much we've changed in our attitudes towards smoking over the last 40 or so years...and i for one applaud that change

yeah sure fatty, ab photos with jeffB written across your chest or i dont believe you

I second that.

bjjs

12-31-2010 05:12 PM

Illegalize it.

Snooch

12-31-2010 05:49 PM

its all bullshit.

mAKE it illegal? fuck that, why not make shitting illegal, or swearing, or eating fast food, or drinking, or spiting, or anything else for that matter.

Its a smokers right to be able to smoke, if people dont like it they can turn away.

'trane

12-31-2010 06:12 PM

i don't disagree with you that it should stay legal, but to be clear there is definitely no such thing in canada as a right to smoke.

Snooch

12-31-2010 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'trane
(Post 486454)

i don't disagree with you that it should stay legal, but to be clear there is definitely no such thing in canada as a right to smoke.

there is a right to make my own decisions and live the way I want though.

especially in regards to something as trivial as smoking.

And I shouldnt be treated as a second class citizen for it and forced to stand in the cold with my coffee because i want one. or to leave a bar, or a restaurant, etc.

LX

12-31-2010 07:37 PM

no - you're absolutely right. And please take up the fight for shitting on restaurant tables and spitting on people in bars.

The tobacco companies are merchants of death - it doesn't get much more trivial than that huh? I get it - I can just turn around and try to find a few molecules of oxygen that don't come along with contents that make me nauseous and threaten my health, and not being happy to do so, and requiring restrictions, automatically makes any smoker into a second class citizen. Rock and Roll dude. Way to play the victim.

Yuksek

12-31-2010 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snooch
(Post 486462)

there is a right to make my own decisions and live the way I want though.

especially in regards to something as trivial as smoking.

And I shouldnt be treated as a second class citizen for it and forced to stand in the cold with my coffee because i want one. or to leave a bar, or a restaurant, etc.

It's my right not to have to inhale your smoke. Sorry. You have no argument here. You can smoke, but complaining about having to go outside to smoke is dumb. You chose to smoke, I didn't, therefore, stay away from me.

Snooch

12-31-2010 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuksek
(Post 486469)

It's my right not to have to inhale your smoke. Sorry. You have no argument here. You can smoke, but complaining about having to go outside to smoke is dumb. You chose to smoke, I didn't, therefore, stay away from me.

you can go the fuck outside.

And if you are outside by me and complain I'll blow my smoke in your face.

Snooch

12-31-2010 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LX
(Post 486466)

no - you're absolutely right. And please take up the fight for shitting on restaurant tables and spitting on people in bars.

The tobacco companies are merchants of death - it doesn't get much more trivial than that huh? I get it - I can just turn around and try to find a few molecules of oxygen that don't come along with contents that make me nauseous and threaten my health, and not being happy to do so, and requiring restrictions, automatically makes any smoker into a second class citizen. Rock and Roll dude. Way to play the victim.

Yup, cause cigarettes are the leading cause of air pollution

INSIDER

12-31-2010 08:29 PM

The biggest change in the number of people smoking nowadays is that it isn't seen as 'cool' anymore.
The reason people took up smoking back in the days was because it was 'cool'... Fortunately it isn't cool anymore, and that's why young kids aren't picking up the habit.

Yuksek

12-31-2010 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snooch
(Post 486476)

you can go the fuck outside.

And if you are outside by me and complain I'll blow my smoke in your face.

I actually don't have too. It's more than in my right to be able to walk into a restaurant and not have to cough repeatedly. I have asthma and there's nothing I can do about that. You don't have to smoke dumb ass, that's why the law is on my side. Stop acting like you're so obviously right about it when you're no where even close. The allowance to smoke versus the right to smoke in someone's face where it's harmful are two very different things.